Hot Wheels™ Infinite Rush Review

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Fast Facts

Hot Wheels Infinite Rush raced on to Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 this Fall as a follow up to the 2023 Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Turbocharged. Infinite Rush pits you across multiple open world-ish racing islands each with their own aesthetic, music, and charm.

The hottest wheels today

Game developer Milestone moved the game from circuit based tracks to the open world island set up similar to how Nintendo’s Mario Kart World on Switch 2 uses the open world for exploration and side missions. The maps are scattered with orange jumps, floating Hot Wheels logos to find, blue gears to pick up, and stickers to take photos of.

Variety in play styles

As you drive around each island you will come across Daredevil challenge matches, where winning will lead to adding that car to your garage. The variety in vehicle types and the level of detail in each from shimmering paint jobs, to plastic engine pieces sticking out of hoods, to translucent bits that pop on the vehicle body all look great. Hot Wheels Infinite Rush supports a large cast of vehicles to collect for the die-hard, but I found myself sticking with a few favorite vehicles for most of my playtime.

Big toys in a regular world

The open world exploration and ‘find an event’ type map lends comparison to the Horizon series of racing games. Infinite Rush, however, seems lackluster in overall variety of race types and shoehorning the miniature racing cars into a real world setting instead of strewn across living rooms, backyards, or alleys. The small toy car feel of Hot Wheels is never really realized in this game and it loses a lot of the toy feel, for me, in this one. 

The hottest wheels today

There’s so much more for players to enjoy too, and fans of the original should have a great time if they’re playing an honest Vehicles in Hot Wheels Infinite Rush are separated into four classes. The Drifters are built for tight cornering and recharge as you slide around corners. Speeders are great in long straightaways and regenerating your boosts on ‘F-Zero-like’ ground segments help to maintain your boosting for longer. The heavy, powerful Titan class specializes in off-road segments and are tougher on opponents if you choose to dodge into them. The Versatiles class is your well balanced vehicle that does well in most areas and became my go-to car in races where I could select my ride.

Overall the game will hit that driving itch, especially for younger racers. The game doesn’t ask for too much in terms of tuning and tweaking your car like a sim racer would. So younger players or casual racing fans might like Hot Wheels Infinite Rush over something more demanding like a Horizon or Gran Turismo style racer.

Finish Line

Your overall mileage, pun intended, will vary based on what you want in a racer. If you want colorful tracks, bopping background tunes, quick jump in/out races, and a fun time without the stress of car management, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush might be what you are looking for. But if you crave a bit more control and a world that feels real, this one won’t be parked in your gaming garage anytime soon.

3 out of 5

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Hot Wheels™ Infinite Rush can be purchased for the XBOX Series consoles here: https://www.xbox.com/